Showering enjoys a considerable popularity in society both in the residential setting and in the commercial world. Among the factors believed contributing to the popularity of showering are its convenience and perhaps enhanced hygiene relative to bathing.
A shower can be undertaken virtually as soon as water of a desired temperature is available; there is no waiting for a bath tub to fill. A shower can be accomplished quickly without the need to alternately stand and sit for lathering and rinsing. In a shower, the user does not soak in water contaminated with material washed from his or any one elses' body. The temperature of a shower can be adjusted by simply altering the flows of hot and cold water being mixed to produce the shower; it is not necessary to alter the temperature of an entire tub of water.
A shower can be accomplished in a relatively economical surface area, generally about one-half the floor area needed for a personal bath. In an industrial setting a large number of people can be provided with a showering position with each enjoying a stream of fresh water for showering uncontaminated by contact with the skin of another. The floor space necessary for accommodating the showerees is generally about one-half or less of what would be required for individual bathing tubs and the cost of providing individual showers as opposing individual bathing tubs is relatively quite small.
In addition, for many users, a shower can be more efficient from the standpoint of water usage. Depending upon the flow of water through a showerhead during a shower, and the duration of the shower, a lesser quantity of water generally is consumed in showering as opposed to that consumed during bathing in bathing in individual tubs.
More recently, with substantial increases in the cost of energy required to produce heated water generally desirable for washing, showering or bathing, the quantity of water consumed during washing or showering has, for some, become of increasing importance. While the economic impact of shower on sink top water flowing for an extra minute each day for example, during a home shower, may not be of particular importance to the homeowner, the impact of a hundred or more showers flowing a minute longer each day in a commercial setting may have significant economic impact. It becomes desirable therefore to identify and implement methods for reducing still further the quantity of water consumed during washing.
Where water supplies are scarce and/or costly, achieving reductions in the quantity of water consumed during washing acquires additional importance. Where water rationing has been imposed, individuals may find methods for automatically curtailing the flow of water to a tap or shower to be attractive. Particularly where persons using a station have no personal or vested interest in conserving water flow through the station, such as in hotels, motels, changehouses, and in certain residential settings, non discretionary methods for curtailing water flows could find considerable utility.
A number of proposals have been put forward to assist is conservation of tap or shower water. The most simple, of course, consists of requesting users to turn off the flow of water during periods when water flow is not essential, such as during lathering. With most valves, however, a water flow is achieved by adjusting separate flows of hot and cold water directed to a tap. Re-establishment of a suitably temperate mixture following a discontinuance of flow can produce an occasional traumatic contact with water of a substantially undesired temperature. Further, where a water user having no vested interest in water flow conservation balks at voluntary conservation, little can be done to enforce this voluntary method of conservation in such a closely personal environment such as a bathroom or shower.
In another proposal, a flow of water has been timed to provide water for a period necessary to complete a typical use. In a shower often the flow periods have been divided to provide a short period for wetting the showeree's body, followed by a second period for rinsing lather from the showeree's body. Such timed flows can leave a deliberate shower user soapy, only partially cleaned, and/or otherwise unhappy.
In another quite common proposal, a valve is provided in the supply of water to the showerhead by which the flow of water to the showerhead may be interrupted. Typically this valve is located upon the showerhead and functions regulate the intensity and perhaps the pattern of water flow through the showerhead as well as in some proposals to substantially terminate water flow through the showerhead. Such valves rely, however, upon discretionary use by the individual showering, and typically are ignored by most users.
The period of handwashing, showering, or the like, wherein the individual is lathering with soap or shampoo is particularly amenable to elimination of water flow. Water flow is generally not necessary for the lathering process once the individual body parts being washed are wetted thoroughly, and may actually be detrimental by dint of washing away a portion of lather being generated before the lather can be used to effectively clean the body parts. A method for involuntarily restricting, or preferably involuntarily eliminating water flow during the lathering phase of washing could find wide application particularly where individuals having no incentive or vested interest in reducing water flows during a washing shower voluntarily are the principal users.